How Do I Know God’s Will?

How Do I Know Which Way to Go? 

By Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West)

In Orthodoxy, God's will is often conceived as an occulted, unknowable, mysterious factor in human life. In one way, this is true, because God's divine providence and the intricate interweaving of our destinies are beyond our comprehension and unfolds in an unpredictable way. However, in a very general sense, God's will is clear for Christians, following extremely simple principles, which allows Christians to obey, follow and anticipate the changes that they will encounter in a consistent and God-honoring way!

The Ancient Christian Way of Knowing God's Will

1) In His Great Compassion and Love, God Wills Our Salvation through a Relationship with Us - He Came as a Man to Give to Mankind
2) He Wills that All Men Come to Repentance and a Knowledge of the Truth
3) But in His Love, He Does Not Force Us to Follow Him
4) We can Only be Saved and Sanctified by Actively Submitting to His Spirit in Everything - “That You Present Your Members a Living Sacrifice to God, Which is Your Reasonable Service”
5) The Life of the Church is the Holy Spirit Leading All Those Who are Pursuing God into Harmony with Himself and with Each Other
6) Therefore, God's Will is Already Explicit and Revealed in His Church - Communion (Both in the Eucharist and in the Fellowship of Believers and Our Accountability to One Another in Love), is the Avenue for Our Salvation, Worship is Our Expression of Our Relationship with Him, and Anything that Brings Us Closer to Him Leads Us to the Church (Those Following God's Will in Continuity with the Apostolic Community) and is within God's Will, while Anything that Inhibits or Distracts from This is NOT God's Will
7) Thus, God's Will is so Clear that We Can Follow It Without Confusion, in Prayer and a Decision to Follow Christ, and Within the Advice and Example of Others in the Church

Scripture tells us that it is God’s will that all would be saved and come to the knowledge and of the Truth. Therefore, everything that leads to salvation, which leads to Holiness, is His will for our lives! (1 Timothy 2:4)